Boring Details

This post is trying to get some boring details out of the way that should be written down sooner or later so I will try to make this short and suess. So I guess first is about how to get a hold of me there are two good ways and many other ways.
1. Email:ryanmgilpin@gmail.com
2. Call or text: 925 353 8366
a. Calls will be routed through google voice (9253538366), to skype (9252268083), to my cellphone (017632930841) and costs me about 20 cents per minute. You will pay whatever you need to call a 925 number
b. Texts will be sent to my email maybe someday I will figure out how to forward these to my cell phone.
c. Please leave a message because on my phone your number does not show up. To call you back I will probably need to wait until I am home at the right time in both of our time zones. And there are bound to be many problems with this system for a while.

Also, I will sporadicly post pictures on this site.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33101552@N05/sets/72157626216777652/

As of now, I do not know how to receive paper mail. I will work on that...

OK next topic is what I am doing and such. I am getting a Master's degree in International Nature Conservation. From what I have seen, this tends to be more ecology based than it sounds. This quarter I will take two ecology classes, one German class, one economics class, and maybe another language if I can decide where my internship will be in time. Currently I am in Goettingen, Germany at Georg-August-Univeristaet. It is right in the middle of the country in a 1000 year old city and 300 year old university. I live in a reasonably-cheap reasonably-crappy dorm on top of the hill about 1.5 kilometers from the main part of campus.

Following my time in Germany, I will go on an at least 12 week internship somewhere in the world which I am doing my best to research right now. I think I am going to try to do it in the Alps, Andes, or Himalayas, but I am a long ways from selecting a site.

In February 2012, I will start a semester in New Zealand's Lincoln University about 30 mins outside of Christchurch. Apparently the school was delayed for 3 weeks this semester because of the earthquake, but thinks everything will be fine for next year.

Following that I have 6 months to complete my thesis.

Right now I am in an intensive German Language program with a whole bunch of young study abroad people from all over the world. I might not be the oldest, but so far everyone I have asked is younger. Our conversations tend to drift between German and English with momentary explanations in Japanese, Polish, Czech, etc (I am the only American, but one Brit and several Aussies). Last night I went to a small dance club sort of place which was having a 90's night. Which meant that for the first time in my life I knew 90% of the words to every song. Including weird selections such as nirvana and rage against the machine for a dance club. I am getting ready now to go play some soccer and try to find the rock climbing wall with the fellow students. Hope everyone is off enjoying their weekend.

Ramblings on Travel in General

I think that instead of writing a typical what is different about Germany or awkward “I don’t know what is going on” story from my first few days in Germany. I will write a little bit about my thoughts on traveling in general which will probably in turn be related to my first few days.
1. Jetlag – Every time I have changed time zones the same thing has happened. Day 1 is really hard, and I go to sleep and wake up at a semi-reasonable time (5AM this trip) and go through the second day thinking that I am good to go. When I go to take a nap, sleep for 8 hours and wake up at midnight. It has happened almost every time. Actually I prefer this happening compared to the second time I came back from Europe landed at 8 PM but wasn’t tired, stayed up all night and struggled to stay awake until it got dark, and was stoked that I made it only to find that I couldn’t fall asleep until 3 or 4 AM.
2. Walking - I walk a lot when I am traveling. Maybe Americans just don’t walk much, but I probably walked at least 6 miles every day in Africa and have done the same here. I didn’t walk that much in Ecuador, but I walked a lot in Australia.
3. Eating - I almost always love the food when I am travelling. Except maybe Kenya. But I always have trouble deciding what to eat. I am not sure why I have such difficulty when food is on the line, but sandwich shops, bakeries, or shwarma places that have things in the window that I can point to normally win. Goettingen has 4 places selling salami hanging from the ceiling, my weakness thus far (see attached picture of over half my meals since landing). When cooking for myself I cook differently from when at home, but certainly also not like a local.
4. English – I speak a very different version of my English when I am travelling, and I don’t even know if it is easier for foreigners to understand. For instance I’ve noticed that I say “Something like this” instead of “something like that”. For example, “I am looking for a book about hiking in Germany, or something like this.” That is the example that comes to mind but my English changes a lot. My German has been sufficient in 95% of the situations not involving conversations with my advisor and getting better.
5. Independence – Traveling allows me to walk an interesting line between loneliness and freedom to do whatever I want. It is very freeing to be able to walk for hours through downtown with no plans, eat when I am hungry and sleep when I am tired and do whatever I want to do right at that moment. But it is also a strange feeling that no one will come and convince me to do go for a hike or get a beer. I don’t get lonely very often, but it is bound to happen in the following weeks so far from my loved ones.